On June 7th 2019, the
Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) hosted a Transitional Justice
Working Committee meeting at the Rehmonnya Hotel in Mawlamyine, Mon State. The
10-member committee, made up of residents from Ye Township, Yebyu Township, and
Thanbyuzayat Township, met to devise a one-year action plan on how best to
initiate a grassroots transitional justice process to address past human rights
violations in Mon State.

“People who have had their
human rights violated over the past 20 years are still suffering in silence.
The [National League for Democracy] government must take responsibility to heal
the wounds of people who have been abused or have had loved ones killed. Some
people were forced to live in Thailand to avoid human rights violations. The
government must create the conditions for these people to return home and live
in safety…And those who have committed human rights violations must be
punished. This is the purpose of initiating the transitional justice process,”
said HURFOM’s Executive Director, Nai Kasauh Mon.

Over the coming year, the Working
Committee seeks to acknowledge the injustice and suffering visited upon victims
of human rights violations, to provide those victims with a measure of justice
for the indignities they have endured, and to support national reconciliation
and Burma’s transition to democracy.

Already in 2019, and based upon
more than 20 years of human rights documentation in Mon State, HURFOM has
hosted transitional justice training workshops in Ye, Yebyu, and Thanbyuzayat
townships. There are plans to extend the training workshops to areas of
northern Mon State by year’s end.

“Through transitional justice,
we can understand the how those who have had their rights violated feel about
their experience, and I hope that the government will now be able to do
something for them. Those who have committed violations against innocent people
have to be punished. I think there is a lot of value in the transitional justice
process,” said Nai Bnyair Mon, a committee member from Ye Township.

As part of their one-year action
plan, the committee will celebrate International Human Rights Day by holding
local community hearings for victims and survivors of past human rights abuses.
The committee has also committed to collect testimonials related to past rights
violations, to educate villagers about the transitional justice process, and to
expand the transitional justice network in Mon State by connecting with
organizations specializing in the field of transitional justice.